


tangled together

by i_am_not_a_bird



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Cassunzel Week (Disney), Cassunzel Week 2020 (Disney), Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25480768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_not_a_bird/pseuds/i_am_not_a_bird
Summary: After the battle with Zhan Tiri, Cassandra made Rapunzel promise to leave her alone for the night, so she could have some peace and quiet and collect her thoughts before they talked everything over in the morning.Lying on her back and staring blankly up at the ceiling in her far-too-empty room, Cassandra was starting to regret that promise.
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 79





	tangled together

**Author's Note:**

> For Cassunzel Week. Loosely connected to the theme of Day 6: Trust & Healing.

Cassandra had honestly expected the feeling of sleeping in her own bed again after so long would be comforting.

That seemed a little foolish know, lying on her back and staring blankly up at the ceiling. Nothing about her old life in Corona felt _comforting_ anymore. She just felt guilty and exhausted and terrified, like some castle guard might burst in at any moment and say, _No, we've changed our minds-- you deserve to rot in prison, not be given everything you've ever wanted on a silver platter. Have fun wasting away forever, criminal,_ and that would be the end of the line for her. It really didn't feel all that outlandish of a scenario, not after everything she had done to the people of Corona.

Cassandra groaned, turned over in her bed, and tried to squelch down the flashes in her head on black rocks spearing through households, tearing apart the castle, and imprisoning Rapunzel. That was not a productive line of thinking to fall into, and she had lots more she'd rather mull over. like what the hell she was supposed to do after all this, now that it was the end of the world and the moonstone and sundrop were gone. Or how she was going to convince everyone she really was a better person now. That'd be a hard sell. She had seen her wanted posters.

Other than the destruction she herself had caused, Cassandra's room had been in pretty good condition when she came in to sleep a few hours ago. It appeared that someone had been instructing the servants to clean the room and wash the sheets while she was away; her pills had even been fluffed. Since the black rocks receded, the only sign of there being any change to the room at all was the trashed weapons cabinet and the torn-up lady-in-waiting veil Cassandra had found neatly folded on her pillow that she was trying very hard not to think about. She supposed someone must have been specifically telling the maids to clean this room-- it had been her job when she still lived there. And someone had come in here and moved the veil. With all honesty, the only person Cassandra could imagine doing any of that for her was Rapunzel, which meant even after all that had happened, at least a part of her still believed Cassandra was coming back to this room one day. Even when Cass herself didn't.

She preferred not to think about that.

Rapunzel had left her in the evening, after making her promise they would talk through everything in the morning. Cassandra was already dreading it. But, thanks in part to all the princess duties she needed to attend to (and the wreck Cassandra had left the castle in), it had been easy enough to convince Rapunzel to give Cass some alone time tonight while she sorted everything else out. Rapunzel had left her with some food and well wishes, and that was that. Cassandra had some glorious time to herself, until morning came at least. She was just having a little trouble enjoying it. (And her stomach was too uneasy to eat, anyway.)

Her mind just kept flashing back to the hug, her arms wrapped snugly around Rapunzel, her chin resting against the princess's newly-cut brown hair. It was silly, but for a moment, she really had felt part of their family. Now she felt marooned on her own little island, far away from everyone else. It had been foolish to hope, anyway; she had just done too much to hurt Rapunzel and Eugene over the past year for things to ever be the same with them again.

The truth was, Cassandra missed Rapunzel. Desperately. Perhaps she had for a lot longer than she had been letting on, or perhaps it hadn't really sunk in just how much she cared until Rapunzel looked her in the eyes and said _I will never give up on you_ , but either way she couldn't very well ignore it any more. She missed Rapunzel with every fiber of her being, and the though that she'd be able to sleep comfortably alone in this far-too-empty room after living alone for a year was laughable.

After several more minutes of tossing and turning, Cassandra abruptly decided this was enough and climbed out of bed. She was getting nowhere like this, and it must have been past two or three in the morning at this point. A little walk through the palace halls might help. If nothing else, it could help clear head.

She pulled the top blanket off of her bed to wrap around her shoulders, giving her some cover from the cold night air. After she she had found a way to get out off the rock armor before bed-- apparently in its de-moonstoned form, it was brittle enough to break off in her hand-- she was left wearing nothing but the undershirt and leggings she had on under the armor before the whole moonstone fiasco. And she really wasn't in the mood to go perusing through her dressers for something warmer to wear just yet, not when she knew she'd see the pale blue of the lady-in-waiting dress when she opened them. Cassandra wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders like a shawl to keep from shivering and opened her door.

It was quiet and dark in the hallways, the dim candlelight just barely extending from one sconce to the other, leaving thin, arc-shaped patches of shadow in the spaces between. Already Cassandra felt something in her chest loosen and relax; it was always comforting to get her feet moving. She wandered around aimlessly for longer than she could tell until she found herself outside a familiar door. Without thinking, her feet had led her to Rapunzel's room.

She cursed under her breath at her own sappiness and lifted her palm, intending to knock on the door. But at the last second she rethought and withdrew her hand. It was late, she thought as she glanced out the window into the purple night, and Rapunzel had had a very long day. Cassandra was exhausted herself, and she didn't even have to help the king and queen deal with all of the cleaning up and making sure every civilian was account for that happened after the battle. It would be a better idea to let the princess sleep. Cassandra wasn't sure what led her here, anyway. She had been pretty firm on making Rapunzel promise not to bother her until the morning, so they'd both have time to think.

But just as she was getting ready to turn away, the door slid open, and Rapunzel blinked out at her

Cassandra was too flabbergasted to speak for a moment.

"I heard footsteps," Rapunzel said apologetically. "And I thought they, er, sounded familiar. So I thought I'd check it out. Were you wanting to come in?"

 _No, no, I was just wandering, I'm going back to sleep now,_ was what Cassandra wanted to stay. But it was late, and her mind was foggy, and what came out instead was an unnecessarily earnest, "Yes." Rapunzel smiled and pulled the door further open, so Cassandra stepped into the verge of the room after her, wondering dimly why her brain seemed to be disconnected to her mouth.

"What are you doing up this late?" Cassandra asked after a moment.

"Couldn't sleep," Rapunzel said, sitting onto the bed with her legs tucked together. "You?"

"Couldn't sleep either."

Rapunzel patted the spot on the bed next to her, so Cassandra sat down beside her, feeling suddenly too awkward to speak. Rapunzel really _did_ look exhausted, and Cassandra remembered fleetingly that she had performed the healing incantation with the fused moonstone/sundrop while Cass had been knocked out. Perhaps controlling the flood of magical powers and saving all your friends from an ancient demon in one day was a bit too much more for one person to bear.

"You need to rest," Cassandra said.

"Yeah." Rapunzel tucked a lot of brown hair behind her ear. "I'm just... I don't know. At the risk of sounding needy or controlling or _trying too hard to be your friend_ \--" she smiled wryly at that-- "I just missed you. After all this time we've been apart, it feels a little silly to waste any more moments we could be together. But you said you wanted alone time..."

Fleeting, Cassandra felt the desire to throw all caution into the wind and kiss her, something she had wanted to do for much longer than she would admit to herself. She squashed the impulse and put a comforting hand on Rapunzel's shoulder.

"Honestly-- and I'm not trying to be sappy, either, Raps-- I couldn't stand being alone, either," Cassandra admitted. 

Rapunzel smiled almost shyly. "Well, do you want to stay here for a bit? You look tired."

Cassandra's eyes _were_ pretty heavy. And there was something so cozy about being there with the princess, like the final piece of a puzzle had clicked into place and she was allowed to rest now. Surely it couldn't hurt, right?

"Sure," Cassandra answered. "As long as we don't talk about anything serious or emotional tonight, Raps. Can we save that for tomorrow?"

"Sure," Rapunzel echoed. She stood up, gesturing out to the rest of the bed. "I'm gonna grab a snack from the kitchens. You can go ahead and lie down, Cass. This is probably the coziest bed in the whole castle, honestly."

Cassandra nodded and leaned back. It really _was_ cozy, she thought, sliding the covers over herself and shimmying to the furthest corner of the bed. And it was nice to lay down for a moment. She pressed her nose into the pillows and breathed in Rapunzel's scent, a mixture of mint and soap and the sweet smell of the wildflowers she always had tucked away in her hair. The tension was slowly draining out of Cassandra's shoulders. She could almost fall asleep like this.

There were footsteps and the creak of a door opening. Rapunzel made a soft _aw_ noise when she came back into the room, and Cassandra realized her eyes had fallen shut in the time the princess had been gone. She cracked them open, squinting at Rapunzel's soft expression. There was a tray of cookies in her hands.

"'M not asleep," Cassandra mumbled.

"Close your eyes, Cass," Rapunzel said quietly, a little too fondly (Cassandra would have to file that away for her fully awake self to dissect later) and reached towards her, tucking the covers neatly around her shoulders. "This bed is more than big enough for the two of us."

Cassandra couldn't help but smile. She let her eyes close again and buried her face in the pillows. She could feel the pressure changing on the bed and knew Rapunzel was climbing up beside her, and the small part of her brain that would usually be demanding something like _You're asking too much of her, get out now before she's done with you_ was drowned out by the warmth she felt. It really wouldn't hurt anyone for her have a good night's sleep, would it? And if she had a better chance of sleeping in Rapunzel's room, well, that only made sense. Rapunzel had the cozier bed, as she'd said, and the time alone in the tower had made Cassandra lonely.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that being near Rapunzel always seemed to center her, or how calming it was to jhave her sweet scent washing over Cass. Those were just footnotes, really, nothing to do with the actual decision to stay here.

"You still awake?" Rapunzel whispered.

Cassandra nodded wordlessly.

"I..." A tired sigh. "I'm sorry, Cassandra. I'm sorry I made you feel the way you did. I'm sorry if I'm the one who drove you to take the moonstone. And I'm sorry I didn't apologize sooner, and I'm sorry I'm doing it now."

Cassandra frowned. Too tired to come up with anything to say in response, she just nodded sleepily, hoping that would be enough for Rapunzel.

Maybe she really had wanted to feel first place for once. That was a big part of it, at least, even if it wasn't the _whole_ reason why. Maybe she was upset that Rapunzel would never feel the same way about her, and she was pinning the whole thing on Gothel because that was the only obvious betrayal she could come up with. Maybe a small part of her had believed she really could be the most important person in Rapunzel's life, until Rapunzel had proven that little hope of hers wrong again and again and again on the journey to the Dark Kingdom. Maybe she was jealous of Adira. Maybe she was jealous of _Eugene_.

Or maybe she wanted to lose her friends and family on her own terms, to burn everything she cared about to the ground before the universe did it for her. Cassandra always did have trouble believing the people in her life were here to stay.

(She supposed that might have something to do Gothel.)

It didn't really matter anymore. What was done was done. The people of Corona would never trust her again, and Cassandra would never deserve that earnest look in Rapunzel's eyes, no matter how hard she tried to.

But she could have it for tonight. It was just her and Rapunzel now, and for a moment, she could let herself believe she _did_ deserve it. That she belonged her.

Cassandra felt a warm touch on her head, jerking her out of her thoughts, and she couldn't help but let out a contented sigh when the touch didn't leave. Cracking her eyes open, she saw Rapunzel was stroking her hair, and she smiled. _Of course._ For the first time in a while, she was actually starting to feel... safe, honestly. It was strange in a good way.

In the morning, they'd have to confront all this. The things they had done to each other, everything that had happened with the moonstone, and why Cassandra had ended up in Rapunzel's bed of all places, after the world had ended and they had somehow both made it out alive. But for now, she could just lay there, letting Rapunzel stroke her hair, reaching out and linking their fingers together, until sleep finally claimed her in.

In her dreams, Cass felt the ghost of a kiss just above her brow, from Rapunzel's lips, and there was no place else she would rather be.


End file.
